Cieszyn. A tenement house collapsed. Two people dead, 316 firefighters in action

On Sunday morning, a three-story tenement house collapsed. The fire spread to neighboring buildings, from which 21 people were evacuated.

There were 11 people reported in the collapsed building. Two of them were considered missing. They are adults: a 78-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man from two apartments on the first and second floors.

– After 9 p.m., one person was located on the second floor from the outside. She was extracted and transferred to a tent for further actions by the police and prosecutor's office. The second person was rescued at 11:10 p.m. – he said at a briefing around 23.40 Chief Commander of the State Fire Service, Brigadier Mariusz Feltynowski.

Earlier, around 1:30 p.m., Feltynowski reported finding the phone of one of the wanted people in the rubble.

He added that after finding these people, the rescue phase ended. – This is not the end of this operation, this is the end of the rescue phase, because there are no more people on site – he explained.

Determinations are underway whether the bodies found are people reported missing in the morning. – Due to the condition of the body, we are unable to confirm or rule it out at the moment – said Arkadiusz Jóźwiak, deputy district prosecutor in Bielsko-Biała.

Investigators have not yet revealed what the cause of the explosion in the tenement house could have been. – There are undoubtedly several hypotheses, but it is too early to talk about them at the moment – added Jóźwiak.

The fire is still burning out. – The fire site still needs to be poured because there is still a lot of flammable material. The ladders also remain in place, Feltynowski said.

He added that the action was complicated due to the instability of the walls. – Rubble was falling on the rescuers, a hanging beam was hanging over the rescuers – he said. He added that none of the rescuers participating in the operation were injured.

Three people – residents of neighboring tenement houses – were injured. Two injured people were taken to hospital and have already left the hospital. One person stayed at the scene after being examined by emergency medical teams.

316 firefighters took part in the operation.

According to the officers' findings, there were three people in the tenement house at the time of the explosion. Two were reported missing, and the third got out of the building on her own. Just before the disaster, in the early morning hours, one of the residents left for work, miraculously avoiding tragedy.

Chief Inspector Roman Kuster, deputy chief commander of the police, announced during the evening press briefing that a 12-person team of experts had been appointed to deal with the case. Four prosecutors are also working on site.

The police have a 3D scanner that will help in examining the crash site. The officers have already secured some materials for the investigation, including: building gas inspections. The tenement house's residents are being interrogated.

Kuster reported that the tenement house was not heated by gas. – The gas was reaching the stoves and stoves. Heating was municipal. The last inspection of the gas installation was carried out in 2024, said the deputy police commander.

The superintendent added that the investigation in this case will be conducted into a crime under Art. 163 of the Penal Code. This provision concerns causing an event that threatens the health or life of many people.

As previously explained by Brig. Aneta Gołębiowska, spokeswoman for the Silesian Fire Department, the building was connected to the gas installation, but the reasons for the collapse of the tenement house are unknown. The officer on duty from the Provincial Rescue Coordination Station reported in the morning about a gas explosion in the tenement house – the report came at exactly 4:08.

Former spokesman for the Chief Commander of the State Fire Service, Paweł Frątczak, said on TVN24 that the firefighters' action was “very difficult”. The reason for this is, among others, the fact that the tenement house was located in the city center among compact buildings. The elements that spread the fire very quickly were “flammable ceilings and a flammable staircase due to their age.”

– Another critical element is the fact that the fire occurred at night – he added. He stated that “the fire is very intense” and it will be “an operation lasting many hours.”

Piękna Street is approximately 400 meters long and runs from the main square of the city to the immediate vicinity of the border bridge with the Czech Republic. Along it, on both sides, there are adjacent tenement houses.

Przemysław Rembielak, an experienced firefighter from Poznań, vice-president of the Association of Independent Fire Experts, talked on TVN24 about what a search operation usually looks like in the ruins of a building. The expert emphasized that the Specialist Search and Rescue Group from Jastrzębie-Zdrój is very experienced, especially in securing unstable structures.

– One of the elements is the safety of the place of operation. This is an oxymoron, a contradiction. This place is dangerous, firefighters should not be brought there, and at the same time the two missing people are a signal that they should be brought there – emphasized Rembielak.

– If a tenement house or part of it is collapsing, there are elements that are still hanging above your head. Even introducing a rescue dog must be prepared. No one will bring a dog in if it is extremely dangerous there or, for example, if there is a fire – said the firefighter. He added that the introduction of rescue dogs into the rubble “is aimed at locating missing people alive.” – This means that a rescue dog should not detect a dead person, because a rescue operation involves searching for the living to save them. The bodies can be removed later, said Przemysław Rembielak.